Senior Social Worker - Family Help
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our Family Help Service in Southampton. The role and remit of the team is to work with families at the earliest opportunity, to provide a targeted and supportive services, the ethos being the right service, for the right family at the right time.
The team consists of Social Workers and Family Practitioners. We also work in collaboration with our Solent NHS colleagues in Midwifery, Health Visiting and Public Health Nursing.
Our service is based within the locality Family Hubs enabling us to also work with our colleagues who provide universal services to children and families as part of the Early Help offer.
We are on a journey to establish a multi-disciplinary service embedded in the local community that serves and meets the needs of the resident families and their children.
Be Part Of What We Are Achieving
Here in Southampton City Council Children and Learning Service we are proud to be compassionate and kind, to each other and to the families we are here to help. We are constantly learning, flexing and growing. The energy in the service to be better and do better on behalf of children, young people families and our diverse communities is invigorating and inspiring.
We need 1 Senior Social Worker to support the Team Manager and Team on the improvement journey and as we continue to embrace the national social care reforms.
Relational Practice, systemic pathways
Relationships are everything. Permanence matters. This is why we have established an almost fully permanent workforce, and we are building systemic, reflective practice and leadership right across the service. We celebrate relational practice and we are investing in motivational interviewing.
Children, young people and families feel and know that they are held in mind. We are here to ensure they are safe and loved, and that we understand what they have been through.
Partnerships matter immeasurably. So, we are building these relationships creatively, with co-located domestic abuse workers in our family help and family safeguarding teams, and substance use workers and mental health practitioners alongside social workers supporting families where children have suffered harm. We are learning so much from each other and this is good for families.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for a Social Worker with proven experience of statutory social work with children, including Child in Need, Child Protection and Child in the care of the Local Authority. We are looking for a practitioner who is reflective and assured in their own practice, and who has significant experience of complex statutory social work with children. You will be able to support families in a way that is trauma informed, compassionate, and built on a strong grounding in national good practice, legislation and evidence-based approaches.
You will believe in the strength of families to care for their own children with our help, and in children's right to family life. You will understand the need for safety and permanence and you will be confident in achieving this for children.
You will nurture and develop meaningful relationships with your colleagues, families and partners. You will enjoy working in an ethnically diverse work environment and a vibrant, diverse local community, You will be culturally competent, inclusive, respectful and kind, with a strong commitment to anti racist practice.
Qualifications
You will have a Diploma or Degree in social work and be registered with Social Work England.
Please refer to the attached job description for the essential and desirable elements to apply for these roles.
Benefits and Rewards
* As Ofsted has stated in our inspection in June 2023 where we were judged 'Good', 'Practitioners are supported by energetic and responsive frontline managers who maintain clear, confident and close oversight of children's progress'. You will be provided with regular good quality 1-1 case and personal supervision that align to our systemic practice framework
* Laptop and Smart phones, and other equipment to enable office-based, flexible and remote working.
* Robust induction period and personal development plan that meets your training and development needs. You will have membership to Research in Practice as well as access to a comprehensive internal resource library.
* We are increasingly embracing tried and tested AI tools for social workers, reducing admin time.
* Flexible working arrangements are available such as 9-day fortnight.
* Paid leave (up to 34 days excluding bank holidays dependent on length of service)
* Discounted rail fares, paid parking and access to the Council's bicycle loan scheme.
* Generous lease car scheme with salary sacrifice, particular for electric cars. More than one car can be leased via individual agreement
* Opportunities to engage in work-based activities well-being such as yoga and choir
* Monthly employment awards and recognition schemes
Location and Working Arrangements
You will be based within Southampton in an area Family Hub, enabling us to work closely with our community in each locality. Flexible/remote/home working is available.
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